Kitchen Cooking Up Visits

Dave Telep

03/09/2006

Derwin Kitchen is in the middle of the visitation process. The Florida native and former Gators signee has a pair of official visits remaining with 2 already on the books.

Combo guard Derwin Kitchen is halfway through his slate of official visits. The former Jacksonville Raines star and Florida signee recently completed a pair of official visits to Virginia Tech and Miami.

"The visits were alright," Kitchen said. "I knew some of the players and they showed me around."

Both the Hokies and the Hurricanes remain in the mix to land. The other contenders are Jacksonville where Kitchen dropped by on Wednesday, St. John's and James Madison. He'll visit the Dukes mid-week next week and then St. John's that weekend.

Meanwhile, Jacksonville continues to sell its location. "Jacksonville is in my home city," Kitchen said.

Kitchen, a Top 100 player from 2005, is weighing the merits of the mid-major versus the high-major program. "There's really no difference," Kitchen said. "If you go to a big conference you get on TV more. Other than that, there ain't no difference."

Kitchen cited the opportunity to play as a key element in his decision making process, a process he'd like to end soon. "As soon as I finish my visits I'd like to make a decision as soon as possible."

While Kitchen wades through the recruiting process, the guard said that hasn't been the most difficult thing for him. Not playing this year has been hard. "A year off and not playing sucks," Kitchen said.